[ ♪ theme ] >> bill: good morning, good morning, what do you say? it is wednesday, august 7. this is the "full court press" coming to you live on current tv from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. good to see you this morning and good to have you with us and welcome to washington and the summer in washington where it's kind of a ghost town with the congress out of town and the president out of town. he spent the night in

los angeles. he will be down at camp pendleton later this afternoon. we will bring you up to date on the news of the day and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. look forward to hearing from you on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. in the news today, of course, everybody still buzzing about the fact that "the washington post" was sold. could "the new york times" be next? that's what people are asking. and around washington, the most common reaction is well, jeff bezos bought it, at least it wasn't rupert murdoch or the koch brothers. good news on the child obesity front. give some credit to first lady michelle obama. pardon me. oh, my god, i don't think i've ever done that on television before but for the first time ever -- not ever but in a long time, the numbers on child

obesity are coming down. michelle obama's efforts are paying off. i'll promise to try not to sneeze again right here on current tv. conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!

the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv.

this show is about analyzing, criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the

minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right? >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show". >> bill: president obama says it is time to start thinking about eliminating fannie mae and freddie mac. hey, that's a great big proposal, shake things up here in washington. what do you say? good morning, everybody. great to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" on this wednesday. wednesday, august 7th. we're booming out to you live

all the way across this great land of ours coast-to-coast from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. just down the street from the united states capitol building. in this ghost town called washington in august. the congress is out of town. the house and senate out of town. president obama out of town. i don't know where joe biden is. i think he's out of town, too. the president comes back from the west coast and then he will turn around and head up to martha's vineyard pretty soon. we're here and glad you are, too! good to see you this morning. don't forget, we'll not only bring you up to date on the news such as it is, but give you a chance to talk about it all and let us know what it means to you. 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. that's how you join the conversation at any time. you can also find us on twitter, talk to us on twitter, give us your comments on twitter at

bpshow, our twitter handle. couldn't be any more easy. and at facebook, facebook.com/billpressshow for our many thousands of friends on facebook. dan henning has the day off today. peter ogborn in the driver's seat and still doing the "full court press." >> i'm here. >> bill: checking your facebook and wearing several hats this morning. alicia cruz standing by to take your phone calls and he's hung over from the nationals game. >> poor cyprian. poor cyprian. >> bill: coming right from the stadium to the studio. >> from the stadium to the bar to the studio. >> bill: well, you know, space to head in between. >> a lot of nationals fans are drinking to forget these days. what have we lost? two in a row to the braves. it was two. i tried to forget.

>> bill: last night was pretty brutal. not that the score was so bad but the pitching, the direct hit pitching was so bad. you know, so president obama last night went to phoenix. talked about housing then he went on to los angeles, met up with jay leno, third or fourth time he's been on the leno show since he's been president and they had a little fun last night, talking about -- now, president obama, when you were talking to the school kids and they ask you your favorite food, i mean really, broccoli? >> obama: i have broccoli a lot! i mean -- you can ask my staff. it is one of my staples. me and broccoli, i don't know, we got a thing going. it goes especially well with burgers and fries. >> broccoli cake with the broccoli icing? >> obama: i won't go that far. >> did the kids believe you? >> obama: they looked at me. had their little pads and

pencils like really? more than chips? >> bill: broccoli, really? >> i still don't believe him. >> bill: he was praising broccoli last night. i do either. it is not his favorite food. i'm telling you. how many times do you go in a restaurant and say i just want broccoli. he's also praising john mccain, believe it or not last night. i don't know what's going on with that little bromance starting. >> obama: he deserves credit for being somebody who is willing to go against the grain of his own party sometimes. it probably is not good for me to compliment him on television. >> bill: and the president says at least john mccain is not one of those sort of mitch mcconnell kind of republicans. >> obama: he's an example of a number of republicans in the senate, in the house, who want to be for something, not just be against everything. [ cheering ] >> bill: mitch mcconnell, we'll talk about this later in the program.

running into a little difficulty there in kentucky. he's got a real challenger, democratic candidate for kentucky. she said the other day -- i want to get -- she's got a funny last name. i want to be sure i get it right. she's allison lundergan grimes. but she said mitch mcconnell, he just doesn't want to get anything done in the senate. in fact, she said you could tell him he had a kidney stone and he still wouldn't pass it. that's got to be one of the best political lines ever. hey, we've got a lot coming up. wayne slater will join us from the "dallas morning news" to tell us about wendy davis and whether she has a shot at getting elected as the next governor of texas. dylan byers, media critic for politico will be here to talk about "the washington post" purchase and michael, democratic strategist will take a look at the kentucky race and others. but first...

>> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> here's what's making news. america's children are slimming down. for the first time in decades, we can say our children are not getting fatter. a study from the cdc that examined the nation's preschoolers found in 18 states, the obesity rate is actually falling. that's the good news. the bad news is the obesity rate held steady in do states. some of the states, ten states overall were examined due to the way data is collected. but a lot of people are crediting michelle obama's let's move campaign for this good news. it certainly helps keep the weight off. >> bill: she's got to get some credit for that. and just raising awareness of the problem. >> absolutely. that's the good news. >> bill: a lot of republicans are beating up on her saying this is silly. no, this is a serious problem. >> it really is. that was the good news. the bad news, of course, if you want to ruin your breakfast, taco bell is here to help.

they announced they're kicking off a new breakfast item. they've been trying to kick off a breakfast menu in recent years but this latest hellish creation is the waffle taco. it is a fried waffle shell scrambled eggs, sausage and of course, syrup on the side. of the waffle taco will clock in at 460 calories, 30 grams of fat. the dish will be rolled out in about 100 stores to test them then they'll broaden it out nationwide. >> bill: i don't think of taco bell as a breakfast place. >> breakfast tacos are one of life's greatest pleasures. i love a good breakfast taco. i would not get it at taco bell. >> bill: breakfast burrito. scrambled eggs. >> yeah. but a breakfast taco from taco bell, i'm not so sure. not sure i want to get a fried waffle taco from taco bell. >> bill: how about some fruit?

>> chobani. wet it, america! awful slinger/dancer/lady beater chris brown sent a tweet that said don't worry, mainstream america, after this next album, it will probably be my last. no more chris brown. he expanded on his bombshell saying being famous is amazing when it is for your music and talent. i'm tired of being famous for a mistake i made when i was 18. i'm cool and i'm over it. see, he's cool and he's over it. >> bill: if you don't believe it, just ask him. >> farewell, chris brown. >> bill: will he really quit? >> probably not. >> bill: we wouldn't be so lucky. want to ask you, want to start off this morning, ask you about a little controversy brewing here on the political front over nbc and cnn and their plans to produce pretty soon, to get out in theatres and get out on

television, documentaries about hillary rodham clinton. it's got republicans all upset. we talked a little about this. i did my parting shot on this yesterday. the chairman of the republican national committee has come out and expressed some concerns about this. you might even say some outrage about this. and warned nbc and cnn they may have to pay a price if they go ahead with these documentaries. now, here's -- here are the facts, i would love to get your take on whether you think this is hullabaloo or not. nbc has planned a four hour mini series starring diane lane to be shown on nbc as soon as they can get up and running. they want to get it out before hillary announces her plans for 2016 so we're talking sometime in 2014, early 2015 i guess.

meanwhile, cnn is planning a major documentary, produced by cnn films, to be shown in movie theatres around the country so a feature length documentary directed by charles ferguson. he's a guy that directed inside job, that great documentary on wall street which got so much attention. now, what reince priebus is saying, this is nothing but political propaganda that's intended to prop up hillary and to propel her into the presidency, masquerading political propaganda, masquerading as documentaries. now, you might say on the one hand, as i did yesterday and i still believe this, you know, in a certain sense, that's kind of silly because any documentary, certainly if they're doing a four hour mini series on hillary

clinton, it's not all going to be a puff piece. it's not all going to be all the great things hillary has done. you know there will be stuff in there about hillary and monica and -- well, the vince foster stuff will come up again. her trading what was that -- it wasn't derivatives but farm subsidies or something like that. >> was it whitewater? >> bill: there's whitewater. there's something else, accused of buying some -- funerals. farm funerals or something. ag futures. then, of course, there is a whole role in standing by bill. all of that crap is going to come out. it's got to come out in any documentary. it won't all be positive. but at the same time, you have to admit that documentaries,

overall, can -- are usually positive. this one certainly intended. they're not going to trash hillary clinton. the other thing is that documentaries can have an impact. marine dowd this morning and marine dowd obviously liberal columnist for "the new york times," not one to go out and normally praise anything that reince priebus or any republicans do, her column this morning is a shocker. it says -- the headline on it is reince priebus is right. her first line. he says goofy things but the chairman of the republican national committee has a point. and she points out, for example, that after princess diana was killed and the palace was slow to react, that princess diana's stock went way up and queen elizabeth's stock went way down. then came out the movie.

it was a great movie with helen mirren playing elizabeth. i remember the shots of her out there on her estate's -- driving the car herself. she's alone. diana's killed. she doesn't know how to handle this. she comes back into london and makes the statement. boy, it showed the queen really struggling with this whole scene. and then her stock way up. so they can have a positive impact. do you think this is fair, knowing that hillary clinton could easily and most likely will and i hope she will be a candidate in 2016, knowing that is it fair and appropriate for cnn and nbc to be planning these documentaries or mini series? 1-866-55-press. and by the way, here's the

threat that reince priebus says if you go ahead with this, we are going to make you pay a price. we will not allow any republican primary debates, all those circuses we enjoyed so much the last time and it looks like it will be just as big a circus this time. we republicans -- the republican national committee, we won't allow any of the debates to take place on your network. none on nbc and none on cnn. during a primary season, those are the events that bring in the big audiences and the big ratings. so is reince priebus maybe right this time around? 1-866-55-press. let's talk about it. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries...

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cenk off air alright in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks! i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. they know that i'm not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one

party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical, the worlds largest online news show is on current tv. cenk off air and i think the audience gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv!

>> announcer: the "bill press show" is joining free speech tv starting september 3rd. stay up to date by following us on twitter at bpshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour now here on the "full court press" this wednesday morning. they're talking about the plans by nbc and cnn to do these documentaries on hillary clinton. and the republican national committee saying this is one-sided. these are really political action ds. it is going to help her career. raises the interesting question, if there were a fairness doctrine, now maybe they're sorry they got rid of the fairness doctrine because under the fairness doctrine, if they did a documentary on hillary,

they would have to do one on ted cruz, rand paul, and michele bachmann, god knows where they would go, right? marco rubio. peter, got some comments? >> we're on twitter at bpshow. you can follow us on twitter. jimmer win says if hillary clinton decides to run, she will be the next p.o.t.u.s. and robbie bright says priebus is full of it. he needs every outlet he can for that clown show. they should give him the finger and dare him. join that conversation on twitter at bpshow. >> bill: you know, if he puts out the word, if the candidates go along with the party, they don't show up. that would hurt the networks. the other thing -- what's pretty obvious here is republicans don't.want to have to run against hillary clinton because peter made that comment, they don't have anybody that can beat her. part of this is no doubt about

it. let's be honest. reince priebus trying to derail hillary clinton any way he can before she makes up her mind. i hope she's already made it up. bob calling from san jose, california. what do you think, bob? >> well, i think it's time for the other networks, abc and cbs to do something also. let the republicans -- >> bill: you mean let all of the networks do it? do a documentary? >> then the rep -- republicans would disappear to the only network that supports them. >> bill: then it would be on fox, fox, fox, fox. >> where they belong. >> bill: not a bad idea. if nbc and cnn could get the other networks to go along, the rnc would have only one home which is their home. if it is not part of the rnc meaning fox news. let's go to atlanta, georgia. eric, hey, what do you say, eric? >> what do you say, bill? i think priebus is right.

if you think about america and hillary, all of the other democratic candidates during the primary, they're going to bring hillary to the level. we do not want that try angulation so if she's not progressive, what they're actually doing is setting her up for a loss. the reason why i say that is this. just white people in the united states would vote, we would have a right wing government, fascist government because these people believe in restrictions. not enough white people to get hillary clinton elected. she will have to depend on a coalition of hispanics and blacks. and blacks came out and voted at the highest percentage ever for president obama. so what i am saying is this, hillary is set up to make a fall. >> bill: i don't know about that, eric. i hear you but i think hillary has a lot of support among the

hispanic community. bill clinton did. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!

the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now. how about it on a wednesday morning. so good to see you today. coming to you live from a sleepy nation's capital, our studio on capitol hill and brought to you today by the international brotherhood of teamsters, good men and women of the teamsters union under president jim hoffa. we all did better because of their good work. you can find out more about their good work at teamster.org.

we're talking about the big flap about cnn and nbc to run a four-part series about hillary clinton before 2016. the republican national committee saying this is nothing but political propaganda disguised as a documentary. however, in this case, does, reince priebus, head of the rnc have a point. the toll free number, 1-866-55-press. back to your calls and comments and other news of the day. but first, this story out of colorado. police officers stopped a man for a traffic violation. searched his car and that search turned up forged documents, social security cards and financial statements. the man is now facing not just traffic charges on that traffic violation but on identity theft.

identity theft is everywhere. you've got to be protected against it. i am with lifelock ultimate, the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection available. but lifelock services can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. visit lifelock.com or call and mention press 10 and you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. that number to call, 1-866-55-press. that is 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. don't forget to mention press 10. i mentioned that maureen dowd, her column this morning says reince priebus has a point. and media matters for america, we talk to them often here on

the "full court press," they are our media watch dog on the left, found by david brock. david brock came out yesterday with a statement -- actually, he wrote two letters, he wrote a letter to nbc and a letter to cnn defending reince priebus and asking the networks not to go ahead with these documentaries. before the 2016 campaign. david brock's letter says the projects could coincide with the potential clinton presidential campaign. the timing raises too many questions about fairness and conflicts of interest ahead of the 2016 election. donna calling from atlanta. hey, donna. >> caller: good morning, bill. first of all, two quick points and i want you to listen to me closely. number one, i have contacted our table of cable station here and

they'll let me know where we'll be able to follow you at. that's number one. number two, on this documentary, what i think is the republicans have a history of putting down women. what this is going to do -- i think they're afraid of this. i think what this is going to do is allow the american public to see hillary clinton, how she has been a woman, the fact that she is ready for the presidency and i think that the republicans will have nothing to throw at her when she runs because she's going to win when she runs. that's why they don't want this documentary -- if it was going to be so negative, they would be the first one to say yeah, let's show it but they won't have anything to throw at her as a woman. and that's what they really want to do. it is going to show her strength, her weaknesses and the fact that she is going to be the first female president that they

can't play -- oh, these tears. they'll have to look at her as standing tall as the president of the united states of america and that's what they're afraid of in this documentary. >> bill: donna, i agree with you they are afraid of her. i agree with you that she's going to run and she's going to win and i want that to happen. but isn't it still a point that should the networks be promoting her and putting four hours of basically a puff piece out there -- is that their job? >> caller: let me say this. i think it is the network's job. they do it anyway, to show you every inside, left and right of a candidate. now, when we deal with hillary clinton -- >> bill: you know they won't do it for all of the candidates. >> caller: here's the thing about that. that's on them. they'll have the same option. if somebody cares enough for them to do it on whoever they

put out there, that's on them. i don't think it should be -- that they should not let hillary clinton's documentary go out there just because maybe the other networks don't want to cover it. let the republicans put whoever they want to put and do a documentary on them. nobody is stopping them. this is free america. this is free speech. >> bill: i got it. you know as well as i do, they're not going to do a documentary on joe biden. they should. they're not going do do a documentary on rand paul or the others. i understand why. she's the one who will probably be the next president. but for the networks to do that, it does raise the question of fairness and possible conflict of interest before -- look, i guess maybe look at it this way. i say this again as a hillary supporter. i supported her over barack obama in 2008. in the primary. that if fox news were to do this great big four-hour mini series

on -- pick a candidate -- rand paul or rick santorum or marco rubio more likely before the primary, i would be out here raising holy hell on this program about that. mike calling from chicago. [dial tone] >> bill: oops, we lost mike. thank you, mike for the call. too bad we missed you. there is one other issue peter mentioned at the very top that is -- want to be sure you focus on this morning and realize, this is important news. i'm talking about the news on child obesity. it was reported yesterday out of atlanta and the cdc that for the first time in a long time, you know, for decades, the numbers of america's children, overweight, suffering from obesity, have been going up and up and up. yesterday, for the first time, the cdc was able to report that things might be shifting.

that there's actually -- the numbers have gone down in several states. in 18 states in fact. there were at least slight drops in obesity for low income preschoolers. there are still too many -- too many that are overweight. we'll get to that in just a second. but the states where the biggest declines were seen were in -- this is surprising, too. florida, georgia, missouri, new jersey, and south dakota. >> wow. >> bill: georgia. >> and florida! >> bill: wouldn't think that. other states showing improvement included california, iowa, idaho, kansas, massachusetts, maryland, michigan, minnesota, mississippi, montana, new hampshire, new mexico and

washington state. >> good for mississippi. >> bill: how about that. unfortunately, there are still too many kids who are suffering from obesity. one in eight preschoolers in the united states is obese according to the cdc. a third of u.s. children and teens and still more than 2/3 of adults. so you know, we're not out of the woods yet but some good news on that front. president obama talked about this last night with jay leno and he gave some credit where i think credit is due. >> obama: to michelle's credit, the let's move initiative that she's been involved with, that has gotten so many folks all around the country doing stuff to help kids exercise and eat right, for the first time in a long time, we've started to see some modest reduction in childhood obesity. [ applause ] >> bill: very important cause that the first lady has taken on. i think she's done a damn good job of it. and she's had people in the

white house. she's done videos. you know what? it's working! we just gotta keep it up, keep it up. in texas, wendy davis, the filibuster queen down there. she's said she's definitely gonna run either for governor or for re-election to the state senate. the sounds to me like she's going to run for governor. does she have a shot? wayne slater, senior political writer for the "dallas morning news" joins us next to tell us here on the "full court press."

current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines.

real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. 14 minutes before the top -- 13 minutes before the top of the hour here on wednesday morning, august 7. this is a ghost town here in the month of august. the house is out. the senate is out. president obama out of town. but we're still here keeping you up to date on what's going on and wendy davis was in town this week. speaking at the national press club. you know her. she's the state senator from texas who electrified democrats across texas with her filibuster of the anti-abortion bill. she told the national press club this week she's definitely going to run for re-election or for governor of texas.

what's going on? we don't say texas without turning to our good buddy, wayne slater, the senior political writer for the "dallas morning news." wayne, good morning. >> good morning bill. haven't been outside yet. only 5:47 in texas but it is probably already about 100 degrees. >> bill: keep the ac on, my friend. you haven't seen jeff bezos around the "dallas morning news," have you? >> no, i don't think so. we were worried a few years ago that ross perot was going to buy it but i think we're safe. >> bill: what do you think about that sale of "the washington post"? >> i didn't know what to think until i saw dan ball, senior political reporter for "the post" and he thought it was pretty good. then bob woodward said i think this is a good thing. i don't know why but maybe we're the new era and you know what? it is certainly better than having some partisan strongly

opinionated person in a direction where a lot of people wouldn't want to go. >> bill: the word around washington that i've heard from most friends is at least it wasn't rupert murdoch. >> i was kind of getting there. >> bill: i thought i would help you out. tell us about wendy davis. does she have a chance? any democrat have a chance of getting elected governor in texas? >> you know, that's why you play the super bowl. that's why you run these elections. sure, somebody has a chance. certainly someone like her with this sudden, compelling life story and burst of stardom has some chance but it would be very, very difficult. you gotta look at texas. democrats haven't won a statewide office since 1994. they haven't won the governor's office, haven't won -- no democrat has been elected governor since 1990. of course, ann richards. the split is about 10-12 points.

rick perry won by about 12 points three and a half years ago. but she has a chance. she has obviously this democratic base, about 40% and then the potential -- same potential hillary has which is to reach out to moderates, even republican-leaning suburban women but if i had a dollar bill, i wouldn't bet it at this point. not that she wouldn't run but it would really be an uphill climb. >> bill: she's already been criticizing by some democrats or -- raise the point at any rate that she's a one-issue candidate. i never heard of her until she did this filibuster. does she have more of a record? is that a fair criticism? >> it is not a fair criticism. you really put your finger on something that's going on. she -- i don't believe she's decided whether she's going to run for governor of texas or

not. but already, the definition process, the defining process about who she is on both sides. what you've seen is on the right, a very strong push in two directions. one issue candidate, define solely about abortion, not even about women's health but about abortion and secondly, she's too pretty to be in office. in other words, she's a dumb blond. erick erickson of red state yesterday started a deal that made some -- it has gone viral, defining her as the abortion barbie. so that's the tool on the right. on the left, if you look at her record, this wasn't her first filibuster. in 1911 in the texas senate, she filibustered against an enormous cut in public education, $5 billion in public education. she was one of the leaders in the fight for the state equal

pay bill. the state version of the lilly ledbetter act would have made it easier for women in texas to follow the pattern of the federal law. it passed. she helped lead that effort. rick perry vetoed it. she was part of providing money and help to get rape kits. there was a big backlog in texas. she was one of the leaders in pushing for -- against cronyism in state government to audit rick perry's sort of enterprise business subsidy funds, fight for homeowner's insurance. a lot of these typical democrat democrats -- proposals. she has a broad, broad record but this effort to define her as a one-issue candidate exclusively about abortion is really the fight of the day right now. >> bill: that's certainly where they have started.

and i was just reading your recent column here before we talked about she has really energized the democratic party. she and her legislators, right, have kind of driven rick perry nuts here and republicans in the legislature. >> democrats are hopelessly outnumbered, you would think. they haven't had much to smile about certainly in many years in texas. the inverse of california in terms of the political makeup. and so i thought i wanted to write a column to say wait a minute, if you don't have the numbers, is there anything you can do? can you use the rules or use your smarts? can you use what you have? in fact, wendy davis and some very, very smart house and senate democrats have tied rick perry and the republican lieutenant-governor david dewhurst in knots. this filibuster really humanityiated the lieutenant-governor who made a series of bungling mistakes and

i say that not in a partisan way. even republicans recognize -- and he's drawn some republican opponents, some mistakes in the senate that allowed that to happen. >> bill: they lost control. totally lost control. >> there was also -- there were some other bills, either with transportation or other things that didn't make national news but were important in the legislative session and the democrats used the rules to stall, to delay, to raise questions, points of order, also -- and little luck. and delayed the whole process. frustrated rick perry. the result was that we had not only a regular legislative session that lasted almost six months, it took three special -- 30-day special sessions to do everything because although the democrats were outnumbered, they stood there and fought and really frustrated these guys for a long, long time. amazing performance. >> bill: yeah. good for them and good for you. it is all fun to watch -- all the more fun when we can watch

with you. thanks so much, wayne. >> bye-bye. >> bill: stay cool down there. wendy davis, she can be our favorite candidate since friedman. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ç]

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> bill: all right. on the hillary documentary, rich thompson says nbc and cnn should tell the g.o.p. to go [ bleep ] themselves. this is just a back door attempt at censorship. all right. there we go. big issue. in the next hour, larry from the center for american progress on what's happening in yemen and

how serious is this terrorism threat. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ] >> bill: hey, good morning, fellow americans. welcome to the "full court press" this wednesday, august 7. good to see you this morning. hope you're off to a good start and you certainly picked a good start by joining us here on the "full court press." this is our town meeting of the morning where we will bring you up to date on all of the news of the day and most importantly, give you a chance to tell us what it means to you. you can do so by joining us by phone as many of you do at

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and there is good news on the child obesity front. michelle obama's plan is working. we'll bring you up to date on that and a whole lot more on current tv. agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical, the worlds largest online news show is on current tv. cenk off air and i think the audience

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we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!

the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: mitt romney says it would be a mistake to shut down the government. republican legislators, republican members of congress, are you listening? good morning, everybody. great to see you this morning. on a wednesday. wednesday, august 7. this is the "full court press" coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station

and on current tv. great to see you this morning. thank you for joining us. if you're listening on your local progressive talk radio station, how lucky you are. if you're watching on current tv, you know this little gig runs out next week so get ready to jump with us to free speech tv starting on september 3rd. and if you go to freespeech.org, you'll find out how to find us either on satellite dish, the dish network or directv. or you can stream the show at freespeech.org, on the radio, everything continues the same. in addition, we'll be streaming bill press.com. >> billpressshow.com. >> bill: during that two weeks between august 16 and september 3rd. so radio listeners, you're lucky. everything stays the same. tv, get ready to jump channels as of september 3rd. good morning, good morning. dan henning has the day off.

peter ogborn is doing double duty this morning. >> i'm here. >> bill: with alichia cruz standing by on the phones as always. cyprian bowlding keeping us looking good with the video cams. it was a big game last night. the atlanta braves are in town. big rivalry between the braves and the nats. and the braves have won two in a row against the nats which makes the rivalry worse. last night, bryce harper, big star of our nationals, hit a home run, first time that he's up. he kind of -- apparently glared at the pitcher like basically saying ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. didn't run the bases. the pitcher remembers that. the next time he's up, the pitcher who was julio tehran has a message. i didn't know they still did

this. >> he hit him with the pitch. there was nothing that was -- oh, they're going -- this may clear the benches here. harper pointed out at him. the braves on the field came running in to protect the pitcher. harper, national's dugout. here they come from the bullpen. the dugouts have emptied. nothing has happened yet but that was as obvious, plain as day, that he hit harper and threw right at him. >> bill: so what happens to the pitcher when he does that? >> well, it depends on -- well, it depends. if the umpire says that it's blatant and deliberate, then they could throw him out. it usually takes one or two times for that to happen. >> bill: he's got to hit him more than once? >> or get really close. it was pretty obvious he threw so far inside. it drilled him in the leg. so if harper had come back up later on in the game, then that

would have been it. but it really lies on the umpire. >> bill: i think the umpire missed an opportunity there last night. things are heating up in yemen. larry korb will be here to tell us about that. michael liam, we'll take a look at the political landscape with him. and dylan biers were politico joins us as well. lots coming up. let's start, however but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> happy wednesday. here's what's making news. we might have done it, america. chris brown, the singer and dancer might be retiring from music. he sent a not so cryptic tweet yesterday afternoon and said don't worry, mainstream, america, after my next album, it will probably be my last album. this is good news. no more chris brown. he expanded by tweeting being famous is amazing when it is for your music and talent. i'm tired of being famous for a

mistake i made when i was 18. i'm cool and i'm over it. so as long as he's cool. >> bill: well, we're over him. >> exactly. who is the friendliest city in the world? conde nast has released their list. number one is in brazil. >> bill: i was waiting for american cities. >> in the world. >> florianeopolis, brazil. never been there. the top five, number two is hobart, tazmania. number three is -- number four is queenstown, new zealand and representing america, charleston, south carolina from the united states. yes, indeed, my hometown. >> bill: charleston is a great city but there are other places. come on. >> also on the list, savannah, georgia, at number 16. tied for 20 is cork, ireland and

asheville, north carolina. >> bill: no kidding. >> southern cities represented in the friendliest cities. >> bill: we know how friendly asheville is. they have 6500 people out there monday for their moral monday rallies in asheville. it was hot. >> our friend jeff messer tweeted a picture of the crowd. >> bill: i know. >> we tweeted it at bpshow on twitter. >> would you like a side of pretentiousness with your meal? at a new restaurant in los angeles, they've taken obnoxious to a new level. raise and stark bar located in the l.a. county museum of art has created a water some alyea and a do item water menu. the list includes waters from ten different countries including spain, france, germany and canada. the bottles range in size from .75 to one full liter and they're priced from $8 a bottle

to $16 per bottle of water. >> bill: it is ridiculous. >> when you have more money than sense, you can go to that restaurant in l.a. >> bill: i've been pleased to see the water craze is -- i thought, waning a little bit. i find more and more that in restaurants now, they don't try to push the bottled water. they just basically recognize most people are going to want good tap water, even here in washington, d.c. president obama last night with jay leno talking about the terror threat and saying it was real and a lot of focus seems to be -- is on the country of yemen where the state department yesterday evacuated some of their embassy staff and warned all americans to leave the country immediately. what's going on? larry korb, good friend of ours, former assistant secretary of

defense, now senior fellow at the center for american progress, joins us on our news line this morning. hey, larry, good to have you with us this morning. >> good to be with you again. >> bill: so we had iraq and afghanistan. is yemen the new front in the war on terror? is that what's going on here? >> well, yemen is a place where, if you want to launch an attack, it is basically a lawless place over there. and so if you're going to do something, you might do it there. also, the al-qaeda and the arabian peninsula is probably the most effective of the offshoots of the original bin laden group. and the guy who's running the place in the al-qaeda and arabian peninsula is bin laden's former secretary. if you're going to do something, this would be the place.

>> bill: is he based in yemen? >> as far as we know, he is. and what led to this whole reaction was that they intercepted communications between al-zawahiri who was basically taken over for bin laden in the remnants of al-qaeda central. to him and basically saying you know, the end of ramadan, you know, good time to do something, to show we're still relevant. >> bill: when the state department tells americans to get out of yemen and yemen has also been a place where we've had a lot of drone strikes. >> very definitely. that's one of the reasons why they would pick it because that has led to an awful lot of -- you know, upset among the yemen yemenese people. >> bill: you mentioned as a lawless state, i've always thought of it that way, too. i was surprised last week, the head of the yemeni government, to the extent there is one met

with president obama at the white house. >> i saw that. they do have a government but they're not governing. >> bill: i guess they're not people that we can really count on, right? >> no. they have -- you know, they have cooperated with us somewhat because they don't want al-qaeda to take over the place or anything like that. there is an awful lot of resentment about americans. people talk about let's put the special forces in there. that would be the worst thing because there is a great deal of resentment against americans because of the drone strikes and the whole -- what we've done or haven't done in the arab world, particularly going into iraq. >> bill: the president meeting with or appearing on the jay leno show. leno started out by asking him how real this terror threat was. here's a quick byte from the president. >> everyone is concerned about the embassy closings.

how significant is this threat? >> obama: well, it's significant enough we're taking every precaution. we had already done a lot to bolster embassy security around the world but especially in the middle east, north africa where the threats tend to be highest. >> bill: what do we know about this, larry? what triggered this and how serious do we believe it is? >> what triggered it was they intercepted communications between al-zawahiri who has taken over for bin laden as the head of al-qaeda central and bin laden's personal secretary who is now the head of al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. so that led to it. you have to be honest, given what happened in benghazi and the blame still going on for that, i thought it was interesting cnn had a special last night on benghazi that it is better to be safe than sorry.

>> bill: is this -- so they're going to keep the embassies closed for this week? is that the present plan? >> the muslim holy day. they'll probably be opening saturday. the interesting thing is they let the embassy in iraq open because we got an awful lot of security there. that's another thing. people think the marines guard all of our embassies. they're just there to handle the classified material. security is supposed to be provided by the local people. >> bill: i think iraq and afghanistan both stayed open, didn't they? >> both of them. obviously we've got a lot of forces in afghanistan and the iraqi security forces are pretty robust. >> bill: the use of drones, you and i have talked about this before and the president mentioned it, too, that they were going to be kind of more transparent on how they make the decision. where they make the decision about the use of drones.

have you seen any change on that or is this still sort of -- >> i thought it was interesting when secretary kerry was in pakistan last week. he mentioned, you know, we're going to decline. we got back and they said no, no, we're not going to do it. there's been talk about it and the president has talked about, you know, having better criteria and everything. but we really haven't seen any developments yet. it is still the weapon of choice when you see -- there is a perceived threat. >> bill: secretary of state kerry over there in pakistan said we're going to kind of reduce our drone activity in pakistan and then he was quickly corrected by it, by administration officials. oh, no, no we're not either. so obviously -- i guess they're still trying to sort that out, right? >> well, i think the president would like to have, you know, some real criteria because you know, this thing has gone on now since basically since 9-11.

and the people forget that it is an act of war because you don't put lives at risk. it seems easier to do. but it is an act of war and one of the rules that, you know, govern it and how do you decide whether or not to use it, i mean really is something we need much better criteria on because right now, it is just well, you've got a problem, let's use drones. >> bill: final question, is there any -- there's a lot of flap lately in congress and outside over the nsa's domestic phone collection program, if you will. domestic here in this country. is there any evidence that the intelligence we gained about this possible attack in the middle east was you know, connected at all or came from their domestic -- nsa's domestic spying program? >> no, there isn't. in fact, adam schiff, member of the house intelligence committee said he would be very surprised

if this so-called domestic spying, domestic phone records had anything to do with it. we have been monitoring foreign communications but there's no evidence. i don't think this went through -- al-zawahiri to al-qaeda and the arabian peninsula. >> bill: hey, larry, it's been awhile. nice to talk to you again. >> take care. >> bill: doing a good job there. larry korb, senior fellow at the center for american progress. >> announcer: the "bill press show" is joining free speech tv. starting september 3rd. stay up to date by following us on twitter at bpshow. this is the "bill press show." headlines. real, gripping, current. o on current tv. on a

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it is 26 minutes after the hour. the news of the day here on the "full court press." and back to the news of the day in just a second. but something i've been encouraging you to think about. emergencylink.com. you know, again, that horrific thought you might be in an accident. you're knocked unconscious. the paramedics arrive. they can't find out anything about you because you can't communicate with them. want to avoid that from happening, emergencylink.com. it is a small tag. a small i.d. tag you attach to your key ring or put in your wallet or your purse that will tell emergency responders everything they might need to know. your medical history, your meds, allergies, doctor's contact information and most

importantly, whom they ought to notify. could make the difference between life and death. but so you ought to do it now. and take advantage of this limited offer. emergency response service is only $10 a year. you'll receive your i.d. kit free. and what to do is go to emergencylink.com now and enter press. that's emergencylink.com enter press at emergencylink.com. good news today on the health front. after years and years of seeing rates of childhood obesity go up, the latest news from the cdc is that in 18 states, haven't solved the problem yet. in 18 states, at least the rates have started to go down. last night on abc news, daniela bell ot da summed it all up in her report. >> a turning point in the fight against child obesity.

the rate of obese preschoolerses that fallen in 18 states. >> what is the data is showing is a tipping point really from steady increases or leveling off to decreases in many places around the u.s. >> but tom fredon, director for the centers for disease control says -- >> the fight is very far from over. one in eight preschoolers in the u.s. is obese with higher rates among african-american and hispanic communities. >> bill: you see that, one out of eight preschoolers still obese. and the cdc also reports a third of u.s. children and teens and more than 2/3 of adults are obesity or overweight. so a long way to go. but there is good news. in 18 states, the numbers have started to go down. you gotta say michelle obama gets part of the credit for that. for her emphasis on childhood obesity and her let's move program. michael, democratic strategist joins us next to talk politics

here on the "full court press." (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!

the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv.

>> announcer: the "bill press show" is joining free speech tv starting september 3rd. stay up to date by following us on twitter at bpshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you bet it is. 33 minutes after the hour now here on a wednesday morning, august 7. how about it. good to see you today. thanks for joining us. we're coming to you live from a sleepy town called washington, d.c. this august. ain't nobody here but us.

dennis van roekel, the nea. find out more about their good work at nea.org. the political season, i guess officially starts because members of congress are not in washington. either vacationing or home politicking. what's going on in the political front. we turn to michael, democratic strategist in studio with us. also president and ceo of then squared communications. having a good summer? >> very good. >> it is funny how this town just empties. >> bill: like france. month of august, everybody's gone. >> unbelievable. >> bill: you can actually get a table in restaurants. you can find a parking spot. >> make your way in less than an

hour across town. >> bill: some advantages to it. you come to us, you live in virginia, correct? one of the most interesting races going on right now and it's gotten pretty ugly. virginia governor's race. democrat terry mcauliffe versus republican ken cuccinelli with the shadow of bob mcdonnell and taking all of the gifts from the wealthy businessmen in virginia. kind of overshadowing the whole race. what's going on? how does it look? >> well, i think that's -- today's dialogue is all about the scandal. the lieutenant-governor mcdonnell came out with a plan for a chills -- commission to ban some of the gifts and the mcauliffe campaign fired back and embraced that. that's definitely putting -- shaping the dynamics of the race in a way that makes it easier for mcauliffe. in the last few polls, he's popped ahead. the general mood about how the

republicans are running the state government. >> bill: it seems to me that mack, as we call him, the macker, he doesn't have to do anything but just maintain his position and let the republicans destroy each other, destroy themselves. >> when your opponent is drowning, you don't take your foot off their head. for right now, in a way, it is the republicans smacking the republicans. terry doesn't have to do much more. while that's happening and just make sure it gets around the state. it is a state that obama won twice. it is definitely purple in color. it is a 51-49 kind of an effort we've had last two governors have been democratic. two before that, republican. it is very much touch and go and the mcauliffe campaign is worried about getting northern virginia turnout up to just below what obama was able to do. >> bill: we have a rule around

the show that we don't talk about 2016 and will not until 2015 but we break the rule every once in awhile, too. breaking it today only because somebody else has. this whole flap i wanted to ask you about, about nbc and cnn both have announced plans to go forward with nbc with a four-hour mini series. cnn films a documentary. both about hillary clinton, probably sometime next year or early 2015 before they would announce whatever plans she has for 2016. it is a documentary. they won't necessarily be puff pieces but republican national committee is all upset about this. reince priebus has said that if they go ahead with this, they will not sponsor any primary republican debates on those two networks. thereby costing them ratings and

revenue. who's right in this case? >> well, you know, changing media landscape makes it very hard. i think it is kind of silly the national republican chairman would say that we're going to skip two of the four major networks and not have our candidates on those tvs, particularly sight unseen. documentaries can cut either way. so there might be be something in the documentary that the republicans love. she's an iconic american political figure. one of the more popular secretaries of state. she's accomplished a tremendous amount. why wouldn't a news organization want to do a news organization about her or a mini series. why wouldn't they do that? but why would the republican party shoot themselves in the foot and say we're not going to let our candidates be seen on debates. >> bill: i say this as a hillary supporter, that is it fair for the networks -- they know she's going to be a candidate. there's no doubt about it,

right? they're not going to do documentaries on rand paul or marco rubio, right or ted cruz or probably not even joe biden. were he to run. it seems to me there is a certain amount of unfairness to it. and i'm not the only one. it is interesting that maureen dawd, no conservative, she today has her column in "the new york times" says reince priebus is right in this case. david brock, the head of media matters for america, our left wing media watch dog says priebus is right in this case. that they should not go forward with this. knowing that she could be a candidate for president. >> i'm a little bit sympathetic to the media position on this. increasingly finding audiences to keep their program going. we've seen a tremendous -- >> bill: no doubt she's a much more interesting figure than any of the others, too.

>> as a lifelong democrat, i would be fascinated to see something on rubio or some of the potential 16. maybe there is a way to balance it out by having one of two prominent figures on the republican side be subjects of these kind of television -- >> bill: speaking of the clintons, there have been all kinds of efforts to link bill and hillary to anthony weiner. of course, because huma abedin, his wife is -- has been hillary's top aide. not right now, i guess. is she still working with her? okay. yesterday, finally, a reporter was able to get close enough to former president bill clinton to ask him about this. he said oh, no. we're 100 miles from that race. we're busy with all of this other stuff. >> he's actually in rwanda. he's a couple tens of thousands of miles away. he's just not upstate new york

right now. >> bill: that's the last thing they want to be tarnished with that. >> there's absolutely not in the beginning by that. that is a hot train wreck as they say in politics. >> bill: a hot train wreck. do you think weiner still has a chance? >> you know -- >> bill: to make the runoff, let's say? >> that's the trouble with the fields, right, is you're four or five people. if he's holding on to his 15%, 16%, it is hard to say that he's completely out. but i just can't imagine that he makes it to the runoff. it is just remarkable. every day, it is like a compounding fracture. he was arguing with somebody at the aarp, someone called him grandpa last night. they just released a video about that. >> bill: one of the other candidates called him that. was it bill thompson? >> i think so.

>> move on! >> bill: you're right. as long as he's got like in that 15%, 16%. he was in fourth place but not that far down. he wasn't in single digits at all. he's a threat. >> right. >> mitch mcconnell is discovering that politics is not a gravy train either that he thought it was. first of all, in kentucky, they still have these political -- whatever you call it. the fancy farm festival they call it. where democrats and republicans are both there and they jeer each other. throw tomatoes. >> it was a fascinating event between watching mitch mcconnell trying to not look -- wooden to his staff which is impossible for him to do. >> bill: he looks so out of place. >> yeah. it was remarkable. i was impressed with grimes. she comes from a long political family in kentucky.

and she got asked some hard questions by national reporters and she was spot on. because typically, first time candidates like this make their mistakes a year and a half out when they get in front -- and she was on solid footing. >> bill: allison lundergan grimes. her father was state democratic chair in committee. >> he was. i believe he was a general. mcconnell's had to make fun of all of that. you would have to be a political historian to appreciate his jokes. >> bill: i can't imagine mitch mcconnell joking like -- or being funny at all. we're talking politics with michael. we've got the new jersey governor's race coming up here. we'll talk about any feud between chris christie and rand paul which is delicious for democrats. join the conversation any time here at 1-866-55-press. on the "full court press." wednesday morning.

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current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. john fugelsang: if you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

>> announcer: live on free speech tv starting september 3rd. learn all of the details on billpressshow.com. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes to go before the top of the hour. michael meehan, democratic strategist, president and ceo of ben squared communications. their web site is vennsq.com. michael, good to see you. before we move on from kentucky, i have to say i think one of the

best lines i've ever heard in politics, allison grimes, allison lundergan grimes over the weekend talking about mitch mcconnell and his obstructionism in the united states senate said that you could tell him he had a kidney stone and he still wouldn't pass it. >> great line! fell off my chair when i heard it. [ laughter ] >> bill: i think we'll hear that one again. i say watch out for her! of course, she's got to get through the primary first. he does have a primary. >> he does. he's got a tea party candidate in there. >> bill: that's good. so on the republican party side, chris christie and rand paul, the last day or so, i don't think i've seen any new charges but they were really going at it to the point where rand paul says maybe we should have a beer and talk this over and because

maybe not that far apart and chris christie says i don't have time to have a beer with him. whoa! right? what does this tell you about these two guys and the republican party? >> it tells you the republican party is in trouble because that's been seven, eight-day long fight. it should have been a one-day skirmish and over at best. but clearly, they both have decided it was in their political interest to continue this engagement, helps to show christie is standing up to the republican party and rand paul loves to have his libertarian be fought -- clearly, they only care about the politics within their own states and about the national political needs for the republican party. >> bill: i must say -- the contrast to me is take rand paul and ted cruz, both of them came to the united states senate as tea party candidates known as that and that's what they were branded and certainly that's kind of what they wanted. rand paul has proven to be, i

believe, surprisingly effective as he emergings -- emerges as someone they take seriously. >> if you listen to rand paul, actually has an intellectual argument behind where he stands. it is a consistent political position which even in washington, you know, you can admire the other side. if you have a principle set of beliefs you believe in and you have an opportunity to do something about them and you do it, then you admire that person. but if it's just political grandstanding, argumentative, adding to the circus-like atmosphere in politics for the sake of adding to the circus-like atmosphere, you don't have a lot of respect for people like that. >> bill: that's what ted cruz has done. someone was telling me yesterday he is the most hated member of the united states senate. by members of both parties. you understand why because he doesn't show any respect for the institution at all. or for his fellow senators.

>> right. even the committee hearings like members understand, you have to do your politics but they understand it is grounded in some set of core set of beliefs that you make a case in the line of questioning with a witness, not just a prop for the latest three second sound byte to just be disrespectful. >> bill: it is awfully quiet around here these days because the house and the senate are out of town. but most people understand that this is the quiet before the storm. the storm is coming when they get back and president obama is now giving the speeches on the economy sort of to set the tone. you know, we've made a lot of progress. we have a long way to go. we've got to pull together on this and keep moving whereas republicans are starting to talk about the debt ceiling fight is coming up. what are we headed toward? armageddon? >> september is going to be a very difficult month in washington for sure.

you've got, you know, the budget deadlines come. it forces congress to do something. do you have the debt ceiling issue. both sides are positioning. you do have some immovable objects here when the two republican leaders say you should judge our party by the ability to do nothing, it is kind of a hard position to get anybody to do something on anything if their stated goal is to do nothing. so you can't negotiate with someone who won't even talk to you about it. so you know, that's going to be a big challenge, you know, when people get back here after labor day. >> bill: there is -- i find a surprising amount of -- i think irresponsible talk about shutting down the government. where even mitt romney yesterday said that would be a huge mistake. so this is a big decision for republicans. >> right. you've got romney. even like newt gingrich, we participated in a shutdown but he said the difference between the ones he did in the 1990s and the group now is they had a goal to get something out of it.

not just for the simple act of shutting the government down. took him a couple of times but they -- they achieved some goal but both sides moved. you know, bill clinton moved. on some tax measures for them back in the day. and the republicans moved on some entitlement stuff. so you know, it doesn't -- a math that republicans want to move on this. >> bill: the president on the road again today. he was down in chattanooga just not so long ago, down in jacksonville. is this working? taking his economic plan on the road? >> well, i think it is a smart move on the white house's part because clearly, the town is empty. he does lead the news. he does get to talk about stuff more not in a dit for at that time but more of let's remind -- >> bill: laying out his vision during this period where you know, the republicans are out of town so there's not this back and forth. i think it is a smart political

strategy to get on the road and take the message out. but he's put -- housing on the docket, the economy. things that aren't naturally in a boxing match kind of format. >> bill: as long as he can cut through the a-rod noise, you know, then there may be some -- >> i think a lot of yankee fans would like to do that. >> bill: michael, thank you so much for coming in today. have a great summer. the rest of it. i'll come back and tell you what the president's doing on the west coast today.

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3rd, visit freespeech.org to learn more. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. president obama in los angeles today. on the west coast. southern california. this morning, he starts out with an interview with zillow. moderated by the ceo of zillow. he's going to take questions from citizens around the country about the economy. it is a first time on that platform for him. then he goes down to camp -- i've never checked on zillow myself, have you? >> it is a great web site. yeah, yeah, yeah. >> bill: then he goes down to camp pendleton, meeting with the troops at camp pendleton, saluting them, thanking them for their service heading back to l.a.x. and winging back here to andrews air force base, arriving back at the white house tonight at 10:00 jay carney will be gaggling with reporters on air force i. we'll come back with dylan byers

from politico.

[ ♪ theme ] >> bill: good morning, good morning and welcome to the "full court press" this wednesday morning. wednesday, august 7. good to see you this morning. we are here on current tv all across this great land of ours. and bringing you up to date on the news of the day such as there is. coming out of this sleepy town called washington in the middle of august. bring you up to date on what little is happening here, around the country and around the globe

and taking your calls at 1-866-55-press. looking forward to hearing from you on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. yes, a lot of buzz here in washington still about the fact that "the washington post" has been sold to jeff bezos of amazon. and a lot of people are asking whether perhaps the saltzberger family may be the next ones to sell their paper, "the new york times." could that be next? generally, the most often quoted reaction i've heard here in washington, d.c. to this whole deal is thank god, at least it wasn't rupert murdoch. great news on the child obesity front. for the first time in years, the number of children in obesity has actually started to fall. so michelle obama's let's move program and her emphasis on child obesity making people aware of that and looking for

better diet and more exercise is working. that and more right here on current tv.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: mitt romney tells republicans you're making a big mistake if you shut down the government. hey, good morning, everybody. hello, hello, hello. great to see you today. here we go. it is the "full court press" on wednesday, august 7. so good to see you today. welcome to the program. and our little roundtable of news of the day.

letting you know what's going on and giving you a chance to comment as well. wherever you happen to be and whether you're listening on your local progressive talk radio station or watching on current tv, we welcome you to the program. 1-866-55-press is our toll free number. if you want to join the conversation, we hope you do. 1-866-55-press. we also want to hear from you on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. dan henning's got the day off today. peter ogborn -- >> hey, hey, hey. >> bill: doing everybody's job this morning. >> doing what i can. >> bill: all kinds of hats on. alichia cruz has the phones covered. cyprian bowlding on the video cam keeping us looking good on current tv. bob filner is off -- the mayor of san diego, in his therapy session. day three of his therapy session. >> he's not cured yet?

>> bill: i was going to say almost cured by now, what the hell. while he was off working with his therapist, number ten, victim number ten, woman number ten accusing him of sexual harassment came forward yesterday with her attorney, gloria allred. it seems that this woman was trying to get the mayor -- when he was a member of congress to, i believe, back then, maybe when he was mayor, to help out her friend who was a veteran in the military and mayor filner told the veteran to get out of the room so he could talk to this woman alone. gloria allred tells what happened then. >> the mayor started rubbing miss tyler's arm and stated "relax, you are incredible, i will help your veteran. i want you to go out to dinner with me and spend time with me." >> bill: what a sleazebag.

>> total sleazebag. >> bill: total, total. not even good pickup lines. >> yeah, right. i would like some alone time with you. okay, creep. >> bill: we're having this meeting. everybody else get out of the room. except this woman. i'm telling you. >> ladies, if a guy comes up to you and starts rubbing your arm, head for the hills because i don't think you're going to like what he has to say. >> bill: all bets off. going to talk media news and there is a lot of it lately with dylan byers from politico and then sam youngman, now contributor to "daily beast" joins us at the half. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> yes, indeed. here's what's making news. america's children are slimming down. for the first time in decades, we can say our children are not getting fatter. a study from the cdc that

examines the nation's preschoolers found that in 18 states, the obesity rate is falling. that's the good news. the bad news is the obesity rate held steady in 20 other states. some states won't examine due to the changes in the way the data is collected. a lot of people are giving credit to michelle obama and her let's move campaign that raised awareness of the need to get kids active. >> bill: she's the one that brought the spotlight on this issue. good for her. she's gone to a lot of events, celebrities involved in it. >> one thing that's not helping the movement is this sandwich you can get in los angeles. it is called the big, fat fatty at a place called fat sal's in l.a. it costs $50. for that fee, you would expect some fine eating but if your definition of fine eating is a 27 inch garlic bread roll with cheese steak, cheeseburger, pastrami, chicken fingers,

bacon, mozzarella sticks, fried eggs, jalapeno poppers, fries, onion rings, chili, mayor -- marinara, this is the sandwich for you. >> bill: that's disgusting. $50 to eat that sandwich. >> if you feet in under 40 minutes, it's free. >> bill: wouldn't this be something that you just buy and then have a whole bunch of friends over and slice it and everybody gets a slice? >> i wouldn't serve that to my worst enemy much less my friends. but the goal here is they want you to eat it by yourself. >> bill: nobody could eat that by himself or herself. >> would you like some pretentiousness with your meal? in l.a., they've taken obnoxiousness to a whole new level. the l.a. county museum of art has created a water sommelier with a 20 item water menu.

the list includes waters from ten different countries including spain, france, germany and canada. the bottles range in size all the way up from .75 liters to one liter and you can buy them for prices range between $8 and $16. >> bill: this is rid he can louse. >> it's gone too far. >> i'm embarrassed. >> i blame you. >> bill: i have to think about, too. i think that bottled water is the biggest ripoff, one of the biggest ripoffs out there today for sure. i never -- i'll never buy a bottle of water. a few plastic bottles that i have at home that i picked up at sporting events or something like that but never given away, i just keep refilling from my refrigerator. i love the fact now in restaurants, more and more restaurants don't ask you and try to sell you a bottle of the fancy water. they know most people will want tap water. this is going in the opposite

direction. i don't know. boy, big, big news on the media front these days from cnn. and the new crossfire, if you will, starting up. they've given their date. big announcement yesterday from tbs about changes in the line-up at newshour and most of the media excitement of course, over news that jeff bezos has bought -- it's done. he's not thinking about -- it's done. bought "the washington post". for chump change, $250 million. dylan byers, the chief senior media reporter. he joins us on our news line this morning. good morning. >> good morning, bill. thanks for having me. >> bill: we miss having you in studio. >> i miss being in studio. i couldn't make it out of bed this morning. [ laughter ] >> bill: okay. we'll take you in your pajamas.

dylan, so let's talk about -- what gets me is nobody saw this coming, right? >> no. it is amazing how much they kept this under wraps. usually when a newspaper is sale -- there is much public hoopla, everybody starts speculating about who the buyer will be. >> bill: "the tribune," the "l.a. times," it has been going on for weeks. >> it is amazing. absolutely nobody knew. katherine wymus told the staff to come meet for an announcement, 15 minutes ahead of the announcement, people thought they were going to announce that they were selling the building. >> bill: do we know how this little connection came about that bezos -- did bezos go to them? >> they hired one of the top firms to seek out buyers and apparently they courted six buyers before they came to pace owes. i think the key to it was a

meeting between don graham and bezos a little while back. at least the way they're pitching it is the graham family felt that bezos understood the values of the graham family was going to be a suitable buyer for the paper, not just financially but also in terms of you know, the values of the paper. >> bill: someone who would leave the current management staff in place, i guess? >> yeah, which he is doing for now. i think that some people fear that he's going to come in and make some sort of drastic changes. i think they're hoping he makes the right changes in terms of digital. i think -- he's never run a newspaper before so at least for the foreseeable future, he's not going to be too much to change the management structure there. katherine will stay where she is, the executive director. marty will stay where he is, et cetera. >> bill: i saw your reports on bob woodard's comment, the

comment i've heard from most people around washington, at least it's not rupert murdoch. or koch brothers. >> you know what's really interesting about this is the folks -- take over "the tribune" papers. they say hey, wait a second. how can you tell us the koch brothers aren't allowed to own the "los angeles times" and "the chicago tribune" and "the baltimore sun" but it is okay for jeff bezos to come in and buy you know, the paper he wants to buy. it is okay for other more progressive or liberal or at least not so conservative investors to buy the papers they want to buy. belle i think the answer to that is as far as i know, i don't even know what bezos' politics are. he's certainly not known for being out there and active in the political sphere so far. >> what's interesting is politics are all over the map.

he's based in seattle. he's given money to democrats and republicans out here. he's also celebrated, among the libertarian community for being a libertarian. although how much of a libertarian he is, i'm not exactly sure. he's definitely anti-tax. great report that politico pro on what he almost did to avoid having to pay taxes for amazon. so his politics are kind of -- it is kind of actually -- politics are as much of a mystery as what he's going to do as the paper is. >> bill: i saw one report somewhere this morning, might have been from you, there's already speculation that the saltzberger family who own "the new york times," may want to follow the lead of the graham family now. >> well, they're certainly the last, you know, the era, the 20th century of family-owned papers. they're the last holdout.

you have to imagine at some point, they will follow the lead and give money to, you know, some wealthy, maybe tech investor, maybe some other business sector. but you know, i think they might -- i don't think they're going to make that decision any time within the next few months although maybe they'll make it tomorrow and i'll eat my words. >> bill: there are not two more respected journalists in washington, d.c. than judy woodruff and gwen eiffel and they're teaming up now to be the first all female anchor team in network history. hard to believe but that's the case. at pbs's newshour. this is really big news, isn't it? >> yeah, it is really big news. the big news that is the first women team to -- the other thing that's big is anybody in the business, i'm sure, yourself

included, knows how great both gwen eisele and judy woodruff are. >> bill: they really are. >> i think there is a feeling that they're getting -- they're finally getting what they deserve in terms of having this kind of big leadership role at the top of that channel's most signature programs. >> bill: also, i think the idea that it started out as mcneil lehrer, right? and now it ends up being woodruff -- or eiffel woodruff or however they're going to call them. >> i think that probably also reinjects some more energy into that show and gives it a new kind of probably gives it a new kind of political and cultural significance and you know, might even attract some more viewers. >> bill: totally. certainly two of the best in the business. and have been for a long time. september 16 is the debut of the new "crossfire."

you know i'll be watching. >> are you on the edge of your seat? i am. >> bill: i want to see what they do with it. my understanding is we always, when i was there, we had two hosts and two guests but i understand, they're going to have all four new hosts on at one time. >> well, you know, i'm not exactly clear on that. >> we do have a -- it could be that they have one host, one progressive host, one conservative host and then a guest or two guests. could be that they have all four. the most interesting thing for me about this roll-out is that already, the most aggressive marketer for this roll-out on twitter on social media has been newt gingrich. he's already dominating the conversation which is something that everybody anticipates he's going to do around that table anyway. and there is this idea that his cohosts aren't going to be able to get a word in edgewise.

>> bill: knowing newt gingrich and having had him on as a guest when i was cohost of "crossfire," i can tell you that's the case. not necessarily the kind of host who will ask a question and then listen to your answer. >> right. for cnn, it is great because at least people inside this political world really do watch them go off on television. >> dylan, good to catch up with you. we'll see you again soon. >> thanks so much, bill. >> bill: politico.com. >> announcer: the "bill press show" is joining free speech tv. starting september 3rd. stay up to date by following us on twitter at bpshow. this is the "bill press show." for true stories.

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>> did anyone tell the pilgrims they should self-deport? >> no, they said "make us a turkey and make it fast". >> (laughter). >> she gets the comedians laughing. >> that's the best! >> that's hilarious.

>> ... and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there is wiggle room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> ya, i consider you jew-talian. >> okay, whatever you want. >> who plays kafka? >> who saw kafka? >> who ever saw kafka? >> (laughter). >> asking the tough questions. >> chris brown, i mean you wouldn't let one of your daughters go out with him. >> absolutely not. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me? >> absolutely! >> (singing) >> i take lipitor, thats it. >> are you improving your lips? >> (laughter). >> when she's talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. >> it looks like anthony wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. >> his what in the ring? >> his hat. >> always outspoken, joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: the "bill press show" is joining free speech tv starting september 3rd. stay up to date by following us on twitter at bpshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 26 minutes after the hour. here we go. it is the "full court press" on wednesday, august 7th. free speech tv starts on september 3rd so here's the way it works. all of our good fans on radio and on progressive talk stations around the country, fear not. nothing changes. thank god. everything stays the same. but there will be a little interim on august 16, we end for

the tv side, august 16, that's it for current tv. we'll be going to spree free speech tv on september 3rd. wherein you can watch us on tv or online on your tv set if you've got a satellite dish. it is on directv or dish tv. dish network. go to freespeech.org and you can find out all about it. and you'll be able to stream us, too, at freespeech.org. so you can watch us on your computer, on your tv set, listen on the radio. everything will be great. >> if you have any questions at all -- go to freespeech.org. they've really set it up to where they really help you out. >> bill: on the health front, good news today from the cdc saying after decades of going in the opposite direction, child obesity rates are actually starting to decline in this country. here's the report last night from abc news. >> a turning point in the fight

against childhood obesity. the rate of obese preschoolers has fallen in 18 states. >> what the data is showing is a tipping point really from steady increases or leveling off to true decreases in many places around the u.s. >> reporter: but tom fredon, director for the directs for disease control says -- >> the fight is very far from over. still about one in eight preschoolers in the u.s. is obese with higher rates among african-american and hispanics. >> bill: yes. it is interesting that a few places -- the cities that have shown particular improvement in this are philadelphia, new york city, and the state of mississippi. 18 states there have been drops in obesity for low income preschoolers. as the president said last night on with jay leno, some of the credit, some of that credit has to go to michelle obama for her let's move campaign.

you must be high. >> i think the number one thing that viewers like about "the young turks" is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. >> you're putting out there something that you're proud of. journalists want the the story and they want the right story and the want the true story. >> you can say anything here. >> i spent a couple of hours with a hooker. >> your mistake was writing a check. >> she never cashed it! >> the war room. >> compared to other countries with tighter gun safety laws, our death toll is just staggering. >> the young turks. >> the top bankers who funneled all the money to the drug lords, no sentence. there's just no justice in that. >> viewpoint. >> carl rove said today that mitt romney is a lock to win next pope. he's garunteeing it. >> joy behar: say anything. >> is the bottom line then that no white person should ever, ever, ever use the "n" word?

>> yes! >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: starting live on free speech tv on september 3rd, learn more at billpressshow.com. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go now at 33 minutes after the hour here on a wednesday morning. august 7. sleepy time in our nation's capital. it has become like france here if you go to paris in august, hard to find a good restaurant because they're all closed, everybody takes the entire month

of august off but they don't do that in france anymore but they do it in washington, d.c. the restaurants don't close but the customers all go home. the house is out of -- they're on vacation. five weeks if you will. so is the united states senate. president obama's out of town. i meant to check but i got no schedule today for vice president biden. i'm pretty sure he's out of town as well. >> probably. >> bill: here we are. >> just us. when i walked out of the studio yesterday, even, even though this is a neighborhood area, it is still a lot quieter. it is very, very quiet. >> bill: get on the metro, you can get a seat on the metro. you can get a table in a restaurant. you can find a place to park. >> let's not forget about traffic. traffic is normally a nightmare. it is pretty great this time of year. >> bill: everybody has been saying you get across town, not bad. but there still a little political flap going on. it has to do -- you may have heard about this, love to get

your take on it. has to do with plans by nbc and cnn to do a -- in one case, nbc, it is a mini series, four hour mini series about hillary clinton in the next year or so. before she would make any decision about 2016. we're talking next year, maybe early 2015. on cnn, cnn is talking about an actual document troy cnn films to be shown in theatres nationwide about the same timeframe. now, you would understand why they would be very interested in hillary clinton because she's a phenomenal person, phenomenally successful. a very interesting life. she's certainly come a long way and done a lot of different things and excelled at everything she has taken up. but the production and the

distribution and the timing of these documentaries has created an interesting flap and put some interesting bedfellows together on the same side. it started when the republican national committee chairman, reince priebus, told nbc and cnn if you go forward with this, we don't think you should. we think you ought to change your plans, but if you go forward with this, you're going to have a price to pay and the price is we're not going to allow any republican debates in 2016 or 2015 even in the primaries. we're not going to allow any republican debates on your channel which will cost cnn and nbc both and msnbc a lot of money and a lot of ratings. in other words, they're saying all -- the stuff will be seen, debates will be on either cbs or on fox. or maybe on al jazeera america, who knows. i doubt it. but at any rate, on -- not on

nbc and not on cnn. both of which cover a lot of politics. right? now, reince priebus has been joined in his criticism. that's what's interesting about this, by first of all, media matters for america. david brock, the left-leaning, left wing, if you will, progressive media critic. good friends of ours. we have him on and off on the show. david brock said reince priebus is right. he's written his own letter to nbc and to cnn saying you know, this raises some questions of fairness, raises some questions of conflict of interest. and then maybe most surprising of all, maureen dowd in this morning's "new york times," her column is about this whole flap and the headline of her column is reince priebus is right. what do you think? 1-866-55-press.

now, so many dimensions of this. first, let's be flat out honest, the real reason that the rnc is worried about these two documentaries is because hillary is so damn good, right? they know she's so strong. they don't want her to run in 2016. they'll do anything they can to derail her right now. they are -- and they have -- they have no candidate who could hold a candle to hillary. no doubt that fear, i think is what is behind this. on the other hand, don't you think -- there's something else behind it, too. there's a lot of hypocrisy here because remember, these are the same people who came out with hillary, the movie, the documentary that they put out in 2008, might have been 2007. but that documentary, they insisted they wanted to know on the network channels citizens

united put that together and that resulted in the flap over that resulted in the citizens united supreme court case. so they're almost saying well, we can make documentaries and can be shown attacking hillary but if anybody else makes a documentary, which might be very -- shows hillary in a positive light, then that's not fair. so there's fear. there's hypocrisy. but question, is there also a point here -- i mean is it really the networks knowing that shebd she could be a candidate in 2016. is it really appropriate? is it really fair for them to put four hours of attention to hillary clinton and no other candidate on that network? i mean do you think they're really going to do a documentary for rand paul or chris christie

or even joe biden? michele bachmann? no. and we also know that documentaries and films can have an impact on the way people think about people. as maureen dowd points out this morning, look at queen elizabeth. right after princess diana was killed and that whole thing, the queen's approval rating for the queen, her estimation in the minds of the people of the world went down because she didn't respond immediately. she didn't show enough empathy. and then that movie -- and that was -- she was in a slump for awhile. and then the queen movie, the queen came out with helen mirren which showed how difficult it was for the queen at that time. what she was struggling with. she comes back to buckingham palace and makes a statement in front of the world, televised statement and suddenly, the

public image of the queen, her approval ratings went up, up, up, up and today, she's beloved again. so the hillary documentary, like the queen could make a difference. it's got a lot of people talking about it. the question i ask you is do you think reince priebus might have a point or do you just accept the fact look, hillary is the most interesting political personality out there today. we don't know whether she's going to run in 2016 or not but we're going to air the documentaries just about her. 1-866-55-press. i know you're going to want to talk about this. we'll start out here with our good friend kathleen from chicago. hello, kathleen. what are you doing? >> caller: you don't get me started, huh? you know what, let me get straight to the point. if reince priebus -- if he was as scared as the american people as he is of hillary clinton, guess what, the republican party would not be trying to stop this country from going forward. if they would do their jobs,

pass some of the bills, get out here and help people to go back to work, help get this healthcare bill, you know, implemented like they should be, if they would do their job, they wouldn't have to worry about hillary clinton. only worry about somebody if you know that you're not going to do your job. come on tv and say republican party, let's stop the madness. they're talking about shutting down the government, bill. that's what people ought to be concerned about. if nbc and cnn want to play a documentary, so be it! so be it! she's just one person. you can't tell me who to vote for because i see a movie about you. i'm looking at the republicans every day. i see their movie every day. >> bill: there's no doubt about it. the reason they're worried about this is because they know they don't have anybody who can come close to beating hillary clinton. >> that's their problem. if they would have some of the ted cruzs and some of the other people out here doing their job, they wouldn't have to worry about it. the democrats have to help them get back in office. no! do your job!

get in here and work. do your job and then you don't have anything to worry about. >> bill: all right. you got it. hey, kathleen, you're on fire this morning as always. we appreciate hearing from you. i find it interesting when david brock, media matters for america, always on the left, right? here they are. they're siding with the rnc in this case and so is maureen dowd in "the new york times" saying, in this case, reince priebus is right. is he? 1-866-55-press. toll free number. the "full court press," wednesday morning, august 7th. >> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: the "bill press show" is joining free speech tv. starting september 3rd. stay up to date by following us on twitter at bpshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. by the way, that mini series on nbc planned, four-hour mini series about hillary clinton would be starring diane lane and the cnn film's documentary, directed by charles ferguson who did inside job, great documentary, made a lot of difference, got a lot of news, attention at any rate about wall street and again, documentaries may not be -- certainly would

not be 100% positive but at the same time, they can make a difference. they would -- i believe mainly positive. so to is earn -- certain extent, i can see the point maureen dowd is making. at the same time, i think what's really behind this is the republicans are afraid to death of hillary clinton. no doubt about it. and if anybody, by the way, merits that kind of a profile that, kind of a look, that kind of attention, it's got to be a woman who has been first of all, first lady of arkansas, first lady of the united states. u.s. senator from new york. presidential candidate, almost winning in 2008. secretary of state and has excelled at every one of those jobs and certainly we haven't seen the end of hillary clinton. katherine is calling from watertown, wisconsin.

katherine, what do you think? >> caller: good morning, bill. i agree with the comments you just made about hillary clinton. the previous people that you mentioned who might be candidates who might warrant such treatment don't have the long and storied history that hillary clinton has. i think that cnn and nbc should let their sponsors decide whether or not this is worth putting on television. it is time for the politicians to quit running what we're able to see on the networks. >> bill: it is a kind of censorship, isn't it? >> caller: yes, it is. >> bill: good to hear from you, katherine. thanks for your call. mike in madison, wisconsin, on 92.1, the mike. hey, mike, how are you doing? >> caller: pretty good. it has been a long time. >> bill: i haven't talked to you in awhile. >> caller: if you take the vowels out of reince priebus's name, you're left with rncprbs which is exactly what this is. it is another tactic by them.

if it doesn't work for them, they have to squash it and then bully. i'm getting sick of reince priebus. i hope he doesn't come back to wisconsin. >> bill: that's right. i forgot, that's where he came from. i'm surprised he got re-elected to chair to tell the truth. particularly, mike, when these are the guys, again, who pushed that documentary, hillary the movie, that -- so we all ended up with the citizens united decision. >> exactly. you know what? i actually think this is about his job because he knows if he loses had next national election, he's cooked. >> bill: well, that's for sure. i hope he's cooked before that. that's a long ways to wait. good to hear from you, mike. hope to see you in madison one of these days. in for smith arkansas -- in portsmouth, arkansas, where do you come down on this? >> caller: i watch your program. the 800 pound gorilla in the

room is the entertainment station, fox noise. that's the panel that does all of the mini series for the republicans. why are they complaining about cnn and nbc? >> bill: that's a good point. it is a daily mini series. 24/7, exactly. they're slamming her all the time, right? they forget about that point. excellent, ray. good to hear from you. i don't know how this thing is going to come down. i would imagine that nbc and cnn are just going to barge right ahead. my take is that these -- the documentary in one case and the mini series in the other will get great response, very positive. i think hillary will run and i think she'll be the next president of the united states and there's nothing that the republicans can do about it

although god knows, they're trying. one more comment here. jill calling from denver, colorado. hey, jill. >> caller: hey, how are you? >> bill: good to hear from you. >> caller: good. the hypocrisy of did all -- this movie aired. the republicans should sit down and shut up. the hypocrisy overrides everything. i've told people for two decades now, don't vote for hypocrites. they're the dredge of this earth. and yeah, i -- absolutely positively hypocrisy overrides everything. >> bill: hey, jill, good to hear from you again. thank you. and so we'll see how this goes -- again, to me, what makes it most interesting, right, is not that reince priebus is going after hillary. you expect that, right? because they are petrified that

she's going to be the nominee and they know that ted cruz, rand paul, chris christie, marco rubio, you name it, can't even come close. but on the issue of whether this is right for the networks to do, again to have maureen dowd and david brock both come up in this one case, reince priebus is correct. makes it a little more interesting, a little more interesting discussion. a little more interesting debate and appreciate your being all part of it this morning. one more thing coming up. my parting shot coming up next here on the "full court press." thats it. >> are you improving your lips? >> (laughter). >> when she's talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. >> it looks like anthony wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. >> his what in the ring? >> his hat. >> always outspoken, joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

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>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. on this wednesday, august 7, my parting shot for today, well, you know, for liberals and conservatives, news that the legendary "washington post" had been sold came as a real shocker. it's more than a newspaper. you've got to admit. it is a national treasure. and a real powerhouse. "the washington post" brought down a president. it made the big screen. its editors and reporters have inspired generations of young men and women to enter journalism. for awhile, hey, it even made money. now it's gone? no. that's where the old-timers and the hand wringers are wrong. "the washington post" is not gone. it is just in the hands of a new owner. and if you ask me, the perfect owner for this new digital age.

let's face it. the days of daily print newspapers are disappearing fast. circulation is down. readership is down. advertising is down. revenues are down. the only way newspapers are picking up new readers is online or on video. and that's why jeff bezos is the perfect man to buy "the post" as he's already proven at amazon, nobody is more creative or more successful in stretching and expanding the internet in order to deliver a better product and better serve the public and make more money. yes! "the washington post" was dying but jeff bezos is there to give it new life and i think this is going to be a great new era for "the washington post" and for journalism. that's our show for today, folks, thanks for being part of the show. julie eckert joins us tomorrow. go out and have a great wednesday. come on back. join the "full court press" again tomorrow morning. we'll see you then.

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>> stephanie: hello current tv land. oh, jacki schechner, here's what it's like here in captain america's underpants. i wonder what our prison cells will look like when the nsa has us all arrested for thought crime. that's spectacular. [ applause ] >> that's a huge conspiracy theory. that's like way off the reservation. >> stephanie: that and a few burns and we're ready to go. >> we need to pad captain america's underpants. >> stephanie: who got to teach spinning class